Dec. 11 Weekly Briefing: Housing report, music venue renamed, winning tamales, and more

Happy Thursday! We’re in the last few weeks before the holidays so we know you’re busy decking the halls, shopping, wrapping, cooking, baking, and going door-to-door caroling. If you find a tiny window of free time, stop by the city’s hazardous waste collection event on Saturday at the Indio Corporate Yard. We know, we know, this isn’t exactly the sexiest or most fun event on the calendar but, hey, it’s useful! Saturday is the day to dump all that stuff you’re pretty sure shouldn’t go in the regular trash like paint, car parts, electronic waste, household products, healthcare products, and more. For the full list of acceptable items, click here. What better time to make room for all the new stuff you might be gifted by getting rid of some old stuff!

🎶 Setting the mood:  “Christmas Wrapping” by The Waitresses (A totally underrated holiday bop.)

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LEADING OFF

Indio home prices down compared to same period last year

The latest Desert Housing Report for November 2025 reveals a local market with falling prices and swelling inventory.

Driving the news: The median price of an average-sized detached home in the Coachella Valley last month was $645,000 — a decrease of less than one percent from the year before but a $20,000 increase from October. Attached homes decreased 6.3% year-over-year to $419,000.

Zoom in: Indio had the valley’s second largest year-over-year price decrease – detached home prices fell nearly 4.8% to $611,000 in November. Only Cathedral City saw a bigger drop off; there, home prices fell 5.2%.

In context: The median price in the city has declined for at least the last eight months, and though this time of year is typically when valley home prices hit their low, prices compared to the same month a year ago are still slightly lagging. 

Inventory: At the end of November, Indio had 451 homes listed for sale, up from 406 a year ago. Valley-wide, inventory was up to 3,342 at the start of the month, a 5% increase compared to the year before.

• Analysts say this is in line with seasonal trends with high inventory at the turn of the year and low inventory come summer.

What else: Homes in Indio are taking much longer to sell. Last month, homes took an average of 65 days to sell, that same time last year it took an average of just 45 days to sell. That’s one of the longest selling times in the valley, behind Coachella at 66 days and Bermuda Dunes at 94 days. 

What to watch for: This week, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates for a third time in a row. On Wednesday, the benchmark lending rate dropped a quarter point to a range between 3.5% and 3.75%. Local market analysts for months have been saying the Fed needs to cut rates to encourage home buyers.

Dive deeper with our complete story here.

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BRIEFLY

✈️ Despite drop in flights to and from Canada, region’s airport sees domestic travel growth

• Palm Springs International Airport set five monthly records in 2025, with March recording nearly 500,000 passengers as the busiest month ever. Year-to-date passengers through October were up 3.6% despite scheduled Canadian flight capacity reductions of 5% in January and 17% in February.
  
• The Canadian pullback follows President Donald Trump’s tariff actions earlier this year that prompted some Canadians to boycott U.S. travel destinations, though an airport spokesperson said domestic flight capacity increases of 5.4% in January and 2% in February more than offset the losses.
  
• Bottom line: The airport said 2025 is on track to mark another record year. 

Dive deeper with our complete story here.

🎸 New name for music venue in downtown Indio

• The Desert Rat, a new business that was going to take the place of Little Street Music Hall in downtown, was planning to open soon as a soda fountain and bagel shop by day and a music venue by night.
  
• Now, though it appears the concept of a bagel shop/venue is still moving forward, it will be under a different name: Dune Room. 
  
• Bottom line: Dune Room is set to open tomorrow and has several gigs already planned well into 2026.

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YOUR WEEKEND

Movie Night: “The Grinch”
Today | 6 p.m. | Center Stage
We know the question on your mind: Which Grinch movie?? Judging by the city’s own poster for the event, it looks like they will be screening director Ron Howard’s 2000 live-action “Grinch” movie starring Jim Carrey.

• (Kendall, who writes this newsletter, only recently found out not everyone loves this movie. Come on people, give it a chance!)

Music Trivia Night
Today | 7 p.m. | Rosemary HiFi
Test your musical knowledge at Music Trivia Night, hosted by Chris Costa.

Double Wide Texas Christmas
Friday through Sunday | Desert Theatreworks
At this two-hour PG comedy play, join the residents of the smallest trailer park town in Texas as they gear up for the holiday celebrations. They’ll face an unexpected celebrity visit, raccoon trouble, and threat of annexation! ($46)

Danza Azteca Citlaltonac Resource Fair and Anniversary
Friday | 6 p.m. | Danza Azteca Citlaltonac, Coachella
Enjoy music from DJ CFour at this celebration featuring dance, resources, pan dulce, refreshments, and piñatas!

Indio High School Christmas Concert
Friday | 7 p.m. | Performing Arts Center
Performances will be from the school’s Concert Band, Symphonic Band, and Wind Symphony.

Household Hazardous Waste Collection
Saturday | 9 a.m. | Indio Water Authority/Corporate Yard
For the full list of acceptable items, click here.

Community Days Weekend
Saturday and Sunday | 10 a.m. | Coachella Valley History Museum
Not only is it the monthly free admission weekend at the museum, there is also a holiday yard sale on Saturday featuring Christmas items and a night of Hip Hop music and holiday cheer on Sunday

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AND FINALLY …

Each judge at the 33rd Indio International Tamale Festival had the difficult job of tasting 60 tamales to find the best of the best. Lucky for you, if you missed out on one of the winners, you still have a chance to taste their award-winning birria even though the festival is over.

Driving the news: Mayor Pro Tem Waymond Fermon was among the five judges participating in the blind taste test of 60 tamales at last weekend’s festival. The judges awarded Outside the Masa’s birria tamale top prize in the meat category.

• For the veggie category, Fabiola’s Tamales took home the gold for their monterey jack and Anaheim chile tamales. The Original Tamale won the sweet category with their innovative eggnog tamale.

In case you missed it: We don’t blame you if you missed out (parking was crazy and lines were pretty long!), but good news, you can still try the birria at Outside the Masa’s physical location on Clinton Street that opened just a couple months ago.

• Barajas said his family has been perfecting the recipe for decades.

Why it matters: Though it’s not owner Juan Carlos Barajas’s first time winning at the festival, it still represents a full circle moment. Barajas set up his first stall at the festival in 2017, won in 2021, has worked as the festival’s culinary director in the past, and now owns his own brick-and-mortar restaurant all while still running the food truck and catering!